Chesapeake man pleads guilty to producing animal torture videos

Kevin Cheek

April 30, 2024 at 3:27 PM·1 min read

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Chesapeake man faces a maximum of five years in prison for animal cruelty.

Michael Macartney, 51, pleaded guilty Tuesday to producing sadistic animal torture videos.

Court documents show that from at least Nov. 4, 2021, through Aug. 5, 2022, Macartney and his co-conspirators ran a private online chat group to distribute and promote videos that showed the torture, murder, and sexually sadistic mutilation of juvenile and adult monkeys.

According to the Department of Justice, Macartney received over 300 electronic payments on an encrypted messaging platform from his coconspirators.

On one occasion, Macartney raised funds to give a videographer a bonus payment to shoot a video of a young monkey being tortured with a jar of ants. That video, requested by a co-conspirator, resulted the monkey’s death.

In March 2022, Macartney agreed to sell all of his animal crush videos to a co-conspirator for $100. After receiving $75 electronically, Macartney provided the co-conspirator with website links to over 2,300 videos. On Aug.5, 2022, Macartney possessed at least 500 videos depicting animal crushing.

Macartney is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 4.

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